


i breathe easy, when it's you

by mobula (manta)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff and Humor, King! Daichi, Knight! Yui, Loosely based off of Final Haikyuu!! Quest, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 02:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20400097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manta/pseuds/mobula
Summary: King Sawamura Daichi of Karasuno has been kidnapped and held for ransom by the fearsome Demon King Oikawa Tooru.As  expected, an intrepid knight shows up to save the day. But just who has scaled the tower?





	i breathe easy, when it's you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skiecas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skiecas/gifts).

> a belated birthday gift for my beloved poof!!! i wanted to try a different kind of daiyui, with some of your other favorite ships mixed in too :D
> 
> this is all silly fun, but i had fun. hope you like <3

The sun’s just finished rising when Yui swings a leg over the tower’s stone windowsill and makes her way in.

Raising a hand in thanks to her mount, she looks down and shudders at just how high up she is. It’s an imposing view, a lonely hill overlooking a steep cliff and then the stormy sea below.

“Well, at least that’s done,” she mutters to herself, pulling out her sword. Its blade scatters pink flecks of light on the walls. “Now here’s the part where I find the king and we head on back home to Karasuno!”

She takes wary steps towards the door—only to be stopped by a fierce, booming voice.

“Who goes there?”

Undaunted, Yui pulls the door open.

She comes face to face with a red fruit bowl, held menacingly in front of her nose.

“Halt!” orders the person behind the bowl.

But Yui recognizes that voice. “Wait. _Sawamura_?”

The bowl lowers, revealing the face of a young, ruggedly handsome man, who’s even more shocked than she is. “_Michimiya_?”

Overjoyed, she grins at him. “Oh, hey! Fancy seeing you again, and here, of all places! How long has it been?”

“Years,” says Sawamura, the shock still not having faded from his expression.

She starts giggling. “What were you going to do with that fruit bowl? Attack me with a banana?”

Sawamura has the grace to flush scarlet at the ears. “I just heard someone breaking and entering, and I wanted to be prepared. How did you get up here?”

“How else?” When he just stares at her, she says the obvious answer. “Cleaved my way through the sea of brambles. _Duh_.”

“I, um. See, you’re not supposed to be able to do that, since they’re on fire, but all right.” Sawamura looks taken aback. “What about the curses and the lake serpent?”

“I didn’t see any of those?” Yui tilts her head, thinking. “But before I left, I _was_ given a ton of blessings and enchantments by the High Crow Priestess Yachi and the Church of Benevolent Saints, and I asked the great Earth Spirit for wisdom, so those probably helped! And I walked across a really, really long black thing that went across the whole lake. I guess that was the serpent?”

Sawamura stares at her. “It didn’t...eat you alive? Suffocate you with its poison breath? Destroy you upon impact with its three tails?”

“No? The Hermit at the End of the World gave me a bottle of centipede legs. He said it’d help ward off ill will.”

Sawamura gapes. “The Hermit? He’s _real_?”

“Um, yeah?”

“I thought he was a legend, made up to stop us wandering too far from the castle as children.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too! But he’s real. Blonde and kinda grumpy, but much younger and nicer than he seems. His forest’s demon lord teases him and makes him mad a lot, but they seem really close.”

“What?” Daichi mutters. “I have to tell Suga. He’s been going on and on about the supposed restorative properties of centipede legs for months. Unbelievable.”

The last word is what makes Yui pause, rather put out. She’s come all this way just to be met with surprise, after all. “Maybe it’s just my imagination, but you seem almost _disappointed _I’ve arrived in one piece, Sawamura.”

Abashed, the color is back in Sawamura’s ears. “That’s not what I meant!” he immediately replies. “It’s just, well, along the way you could have been fried to a crisp, cursed into madness, suffocated with poison, and more—and literally _none _of that happened. The chances of you getting here unscathed are less than you getting here with some ailment or other.”

“Hmph!” Yui crosses her arms. “Those things don’t _need_ to happen if you’re prepared. I mean, sure, adventure into the unknown is super interesting! But I’ve learned it’s better not to just go charging to places, you know? Especially when I have people worrying about me. Protecting myself is the least I can do to make sure I return home safely.”

Sawamura’s scratching his head. “Those are words I’ve never heard from any of my knights.”

“Well, good thing I’m not one of them, or else I wouldn’t be here. Mind if I put this down for a bit? It needs to cool off, having hacked off burning brambles and all.” She places her sword on the bed, the white sheets creating a clear contrast with the pink blade.

Eyes flicking to it, Sawamura chokes. “Gods,” he says at last, when he’s done coughing. “The prophecy. It was _you_.”

Yui blinks. “What? What prophecy?”

“The prophecy! Mine! For my kingdom! Spoken by the Star Oracle Fukunaga when we were children!” Sawamura gestures to Yui’s weapon. “‘_Rose of cheek and blade, steel in heart and soul made; when taken by the pointed dark, the unassuming rallies the dawn with a spark_.’”

“Oh. _That _prophecy.” Yui grins, sheepish. “I vaguely remember hearing something like that during history lessons. I should have paid more attention.”

Sawamura groans in exasperation. “Michimiya! You were sitting _right next to me_ when the tutor said it!”

“You know I’m not good with that stuff!” Yui protests. “And you shared your notes with me for all the parts I was asleep! Besides, those words all sound so...high and mighty and distant. Are you sure they’re about me?”

Sawamura sighs. “Believe me, I’m asking myself the same question.”

“Huh? Why? What’s wrong with _me_?” Affronted, Yui puts her hands on her hips. “I know what the problem is, Sawamura. Be honest. When you heard the prophecy, you thought your strong savior would be a man, right? A _male _knight. A knight who’s much taller than me, with big muscles and all brawny and tough with a scar over his eye! Who rides a big black horse and leads every single battle at the front yelling about things like _dying like men_ and _for dignity and honor _and _we are outnumbered, but our courage will defeat them_.”

She says this all in one breath.

“Are you done?” asks Sawamura.

“No!”

“I thought you just said the prophecy isn’t about you?”

“I said it _might not_ be. I didn’t say it _wasn’t_.” She’s pouting now. “Face it, Sawamura. You imagined some tall, strong knight with a huge shield and sword, right? You didn’t envision someone like _me_.”

“Well, I definitely didn’t envision being in a situation warranting that sort of imagination. It’s not every day I’m kidnapped by the pettiest of creatures and kept in a tower unless my kingdom produces a ransom they can’t pay!”

Yui puffs out her cheeks. “Forget about that. How about a ‘Thank you, Michimiya’? An ‘I’m so grateful that you saved my life’? An ‘I’m so pleased I don’t have to stay cooped up in this boring tower anymore’? That’s a lot more appropriate for the immediate occasion, don’t you think?”

She expects Sawamura to continue arguing. But although he opens his mouth, he deliberately shuts it, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he exhales and reopens his eyes, his expression is calmer. “You’re right. That _was _what I thought. And it _was_ unfair to you. I shouldn’t underestimate anyone; I should keep that in mind for my subjects, as well as my enemies.” And suddenly, he smiles. “Thank you, Michimiya. And I’m sorry.”

“Good,” she says, mollified, ignoring the way her heart is beating faster at the way his eyes still crinkle at the corners, just like when he was eight. “What else?”

Sawamura pauses. “I was just thinking about you, you know,” he admitted. “Spending all these hours locked in the tower made me think about my life leading up to my coronation. My upbringing, the people who made me who I am.” He chances another glance at Yui’s sword, his cheeks as pink as the blade. “I thought about all the times we sparred. Your laugh. Your smile, as you stood victoriously over me with the sun behind you.”

“Oh,” says Yui. Her own cheeks are feeling rather warm as well. “I thought about you, too. If you were well. How your swordsmanship was coming along. How many matches you were losing without me there.”

He just laughs; the sound is deeper now, but still the same as she remembers. Her words seem to encourage him. “The same spunky Michimiya. I wondered where you’d gone after the civil war started, and you fled with your family. I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again, or if you were even alive. I’d already decided to send out a search party to find your whereabouts, but then _this_ mess happened.”

Yui chokes up, finding she doesn’t know what to say. “Well, no need for that search party!” she finally manages. “I’m here!”

“You are.”

Without his armor, his eyes are especially unguarded in their warmth, and she smiles. “So, the prophecy. What’s this about a spark?” she asks.

“You didn’t see it? In the early morning, shortly before you arrived, the night sky was suddenly bright with something. Flames, it looked like.”

Yui thinks for a moment before it clicks. “Oh! That was Mao!”

Sawamura starts. “Mao? Aihara Mao, who grew up with us? Your best friend?”

“Yeah! She was signalling our location to Suga and the rest of the Crow Council. She managed a blast that was higher than the tallest tree in the forest—I think I should tell you that. She’s very proud of her fire breath; she’s worked hard on it, you know.”

Sawamura stares at her, and Yui simply looks back. He seems to have been hit with a lot of surprises today. “Fire breath...Aihara’s a _dragon_?”

“You didn’t know? Well, I guess you wouldn’t, because the time we took classes together, she hadn’t managed to shape-shift yet.” Yui laughs. “She’ll be so pleased to know she’s part of the prophecy too!”

She’s rendered him speechless yet again. “We have a lot to catch up on, Michimiya. I kept an ear out for any mentions of you and there were none. Turns out I heard about you all the time, except no one referred to you by name, because you went off and became the famous _Rose Knight_—”

“That’s just a title. It’s still me, Sawamura!” Yui shrugs. “To be honest, I didn’t even know you were the king who needed saving. I always thought Suga was the prince, and you were his knight.”

“I—” Sawamura opens his mouth, and shuts it again. His expression is troubled. “Is that what _everyone else_ thought?!”

Resisting the urge to giggle, Yui hurriedly steers him back on track. “Well, that’s not important now! Anyway, I didn’t come here with any desire to kill or do heroic deeds and go down in history as some legend.” She gingerly presses a finger to the blade. Yes, cool enough to wield now. “As a knight, I have a code to follow. But it’s just rules, you know? It doesn’t tell me what to believe. It’s up to me to decide what I believe in. And I heard there was trouble, so I came to help.”

Sawamura surveys her with wonder. “You’re incredible, Michimiya,” he says at last. “Just incredible.”

Yui doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “Huh?”

But Sawamura clears his throat. “Well, now we have to contend with the Demon King Oikawa, and who knows how many of his minions.”

“Oh, about that!” Yui pipes up. “We can leave anytime.”

Now Sawamura’s the confused one, gaping at her. “_What_?”

“I mean, I _did _fight the Demon King's knight for a bit. But then the knight praised my swordsmanship, and I praised his, and then we realized we had the same fighting style. And _then_ we realized we were from the same knighthood, and even made our vows on the very same day. Isn’t that hysterical?” She grins just thinking about it. “Anyway, the Demon King laughed until his sides ached, then proclaimed himself appeased and that you were free to go.”

Sawamura’s about to answer, when a deafening roar rumbles through the room.

“Mao’s here!” says Yui, sheathing her sword. “Come on, Sawamura! Let’s go!”

But he doesn’t move. “Wait, Michimiya. Promise me one thing.”

“Hm?” She grows concerned at how solemnly he’s looking at her. “What is it?”

“You don’t have to stay in Karasuno forever. But let me at least show my people who saved me. So they know of your face, and your deeds.” He steps closer. “So they can care about you, just a portion of how much I care about you.”

She jumps when he takes her hand in his. His grip is steady, familiar even after all these years, and she relaxes under his touch. “I—All right,” she concedes, and grins. “But _you_ have to promise me you’ll show me around! I haven’t been back there in ages!”

“I give you my word,” he vows in return—and it is only then that they step onto the sill and leap.

This tower only has one proper exit—the door, far below them, guarded by the Demon King’s fiercest sentinels.

But, as the two of them free-fall, his hand warm in hers, until they’re safely caught in Mao’s large claws, Yui smiles.

There are always other unexpected ways to find each other again.

* * *

The Demon King is humming. The song is some dance reminiscent of the nymphs, its spritely melody echoing off the walls.

“_You’re_ in a good mood, Oikawa.”

Oikawa looks up from the map he’s perusing. “And why shouldn’t I be? My plans worked out. The prophecy is fulfilled. My kingdom is spared the destruction that its double meaning could have meant. It’s a day for celebration all around.” He stands up from his throne to stretch, horns tilting as he moves his head from side to side. “In fact, _you_ could stand to be less of a sourpuss, Iwa-chan.”

“Yeah, because what you did was a stupid, reckless move. Did you have to almost start an inter-kingdom war, especially with a realm as formidable as Karasuno?”

“I’m hurt, Iwa-chan. You’ve had years of experience observing my brilliant and beautiful mind, and you still doubt my ability to plan and then forestall a war?”

“That’s not the problem. Winter is coming, and your subjects can’t afford to spare any thought for battle.”

“Iwa-chan, Iwa-chan. So concerning and caring for the masses, human or not.” Oikawa waves an airy hand. Iwaizumi wants to smack it down. “But never fear! I will send a peace offering to Karasuno in the form of some magical object. A jewel, or a crown, or a gold-lined scroll, or something. Humans _love_ magic, even the ones who’ve convinced themselves they’re above it. They’re so easily manipulated, don’t you think?”

Iwaizumi feels a vein twitch in his temple. “You say, as a demon who’s as vain as any human. You say, as you speak these very words to a _human_—”

“I wasn’t talking about you,” Oikawa says, turning away. “You were the first human to see my temptingly shiny baubles—all _very _carefully crafted, and made of the most exquisite materials, I might add—and say, ‘What is this trash?’ After I got over how dreadfully offended I was, I knew I had to have you for myself.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “What a pack of flaming lies. We grew up together, you moron.”

“Well, yes. But I didn’t recognize you at the time, Iwa-chan. Did I not tell you?”

“No?”

“Oh.” Oikawa’s smile becomes thoughtful, then returns in full force. “Then I must have had a good reason not to have said so!”

“Idiot! You just forgot!” Oikawa just gives him a beatific smile, and Iwaizumi continues to air his grievances all the more fiercely. “And did you _have_ to make me actually duel Michimiya? My side _still _smarts where she bodied me! I won’t be able to sleep on it for a good month!”

“Hm. Well, it _did_ help make my story more believable, and I wanted to see the famed skills of the Rose Knight for myself,” Oikawa concedes. But then, his face lights up in a grin. “However, Iwa-chan, I must also admit...well, I just wanted to watch you defend my honor.”

And he flees down the hallway before Iwaizumi can retaliate.

“_Oikawa! Get back here!_”


End file.
